Third Phase
by I.W.P-chan
Summary: Enma picks up his sister after her support group meeting for the first time and ends up meeting Sawada Tsunayoshi, who flips Enma's life around. Enter: Enma's Colossal Crush. (A Hanahaki or two make an appearance.) Hanahaki AU.


Summary: Enma picks up his sister after her support group meeting for the first time and ends up meeting Sawada Tsunayoshi, who flips Enma's life around. Enter: Enma's Colossal Crush. (A Hanahaki or two make an appearance.) Hanahaki AU.

 _Notes: I was reading Hanahaki fics when I wondered about other possible details for such an AU and this happened._

 _ **Hanahaki**_ _: is a fictional illness that one gets due to unrequited romantic love. Hanahaki manifests in flowers growing in the lungs, which causes the person who has it to cough out flowers and blood. It can be cured by having the feelings that caused reciprocated or by surgery; the surgery removes the feelings that caused it along with it. If it's left without treatment for too long it will lead to death._

 **WARNINGS: Shameless Self-Indulgence, This Is A Very Wild Ride, 90% Directed By The Characters, Way Too Many Food Mentions, Hanahaki Fic But The Hanahaki Is Only Brought Up When It's Convenient, Past Minor Character Death, Enma Being A Protective Older Brother, Enma's Huge Crush, Feels, Lots Of Feels, Is This What They Call Romance Fiction?, Brief Cat Therapy At One Point, Mama And Papa Kozato Exist At The Edges, Non-Decimo Tsuna AU, Way More Characters Than Expected, FEELS, Crying, SURPRISES, A Shameless Time Skip Somewhere In This Fic, Actually Has Something Cliché And Cheesy And It's Not Hard To Notice, Too Many Warning Tags.**

 **Disclaimer:** Don't own KHR.

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Enma leaned against the car, checking his watch before returning his eyes to observe the building he parked in front of. Mami was bound to leave soon.

Not five minutes later, his sister exited the building in the company of a young man with fluffy brown hair and amber eyes. The two were quietly conversing.

Enma cocked his head to the side in curiosity; it was his first time picking Mami up after her support group meeting and so it was his first time meeting another member of the group.

Did the guy have Hanahaki like Mami? Enma wondered, looking over the person and noting his features.

Just who could possibly _not_ reciprocate that guy's feelings?

His inner Mami metaphorically whacked him over the head, screeching, "Hanahaki is about ROMANTIC love not lust!"

Enma shook his head in faint amusement; it wasn't like a person couldn't grow to love another over time.

(The thing called dating existed, after all. And the only reason Enma didn't suggest this to Mami to help her with Hanahaki was because she had the misfortune to fall in love with an aromantic person.)

"Enma-nii."

Mami's greeting shook him from his thoughts, and he smiled at her, "Mami, you ready to go?"

Mami hesitated slightly before she nodded, "Sorry if I was late, Tsuna-san was just telling me something." She looked to her side only to notice that her companion, 'Tsuna-san', wasn't there.

She huffed in mock exasperation and turned to yell at Tsuna-san who was some distance away from the siblings, "Tsuna-san! Just because kaa-chan isn't here it doesn't mean you get to escape from the Kozato clutches! Enma-nii will give you a ride!"

Enma walked up to stand next to Mami and sent what he hoped was his most charming smile.

Tsuna-san scrutinized them both for a minute before he relented, huffing in amusement, "Mami-chan, I can walk home. My place isn't that far away from here." His voice was quiet and slightly hoarse.

"Yeah, sure."

"Just this once, okay?"

Mami smiled and pumped her fist in the air.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please, call me Tsuna."

"Kozato Enma-" Enma's smile widened, "-Please call me Enma. And the pleasure is all mine."

Mami gave him a cursory glance, wondering about his sudden openness, he gave her a look. _I saw a guy so beautiful, it brightened my day_ , his look said.

Mami elbowed him lightly in the side, the look in her eyes promising an interrogation session once they got home.

Tsuna seemed to not notice the byplay (or if he did, then he made no sign to show it).

The car ride was short and quiet, only filled with Mami's voice as she directed him to Tsuna's house. Enma was surprised his sister didn't talk his or Tsuna's ears off.

After they bade Tsuna goodbye and returned to their own house, Enma was starting to get worried. Mami was still surprisingly silent.

"Mami? Is there something wrong?" Enma put his arm around her shoulders.

Mami sucked in a breath and let it whoosh out of her chest, trembling and shaking, she coughed lightly into her hand and brought out a tissue from her pocket, using it to clean up the blood-stained petals that fell from her mouth and wiped her lips.

She tossed the dirty tissue in the nearest trash can and threw herself into one of the couches, "Tsuna wants to have the surgery to get rid of his Hanahaki. He said he'll have it next week."

Enma sat next to her, silent as he pondered what she just said.

He knew Mami didn't want to go the surgery route to heal; she was scared, she'd said when she explained why she didn't want it, not only of the operation, but of what will happen after it. The surgery will get rid of the disease, and it will take away the cause of the disease, and Mami was scared of the gaping hole that would leave in her heart.

It was clear that Mami felt scared for Tsuna.

"Tell you what? How about I take you to check up on Tsuna whenever you have the time? Do you have his number?"

Mami, who stared at him wide-eyed and hopeful, turned skeptical, "Are you sure this isn't just an excuse to have his number?"

"No, promise."

.

Unfortunately for Mami, she had homework piled up and couldn't contact Tsuna about coming over sometime in the next few days before his surgery, which left her no choice but to give Enma Tsuna's contact number to do it instead.

Enma stared at Tsuna's contact number in his phone, wondering whether he should text or call, before deciding to text.

 _[Hi, Tsuna! This is Enma, Mami's brother.]_ He hit 'send' before he could second guess himself or his choice of words.

He breathed in deeply, contact made. Now all he had to do was wait for a reply.

His phone pinged, indicating an incoming message.

That… was fast.

 _[Hello Enma ^^]_

Enma's fingers went to start typing a reply asking Tsuna if he was fine with Enma and Mami visiting in the next few days, before they froze in place, one formal sentence already typed. He deleted it quickly and threw the phone to the table before throwing himself to the couch.

Oh god, what was he supposed to do? How could someone even text a person they find cute?

Enma curled up, agonizing in silence; his messages-sending experience included only either very informal, stupid texting with his close friends and family members, or very formal e-mail sending to people at work.

If Mami saw him at the moment, she'd have _cackled_.

Fifteen minutes later, he uncurled himself. Deciding to risk it, he grabbed his phone and typed.

 _[I was wondering if it's okay with you if Mami and I come over to your place sometime in the next few days before you have your surgery?]_

He fidgeted, was he being too personal? Insensitive? Did he offend the guy? God, he hoped not.

Tsuna's reply came not a minute later.

 _[Sure. you can come over anytime ^^ I'm not doing anything time sensitive this month so I'm almost always free.]_

Enma smothered a triumphant shout against a pillow, hoping that Mami didn't hear him, and then he sagged back into the couch, smiling at the message.

.

The visit came both too soon for Enma, yet not soon enough at the same time.

Enma subtly fidgeted in front of the door, careful not to let Mami see (now was _not_ the time for her teasing).

The door opened, revealing a brightly smiling girl, with amber eyes and light brown, long hair, who ushered them in, "Hello, Mami-chan, Kozato-kun! I'm Kyoko, a friend of Tsuna's. As much as I'd like to stay and spend time with you, I have to go, my bae and I are meeting up later." She smiled at them, "Take care of Tsuna for me, yes?"

"Kyoko, you don't have to…" Tsuna walked into view, looking soft and approachable in his long hoodie and sweets. Enma wanted to cuddle him.

"Of course we will!" Mami nodded vigorously.

"Thank you, Mami-chan!" Kyoko's smile widened.

"Mami-chan." Tsuna slightly pouted. Enma smothered a smile.

Kyoko nodded at Mami with a dangerous glint in her eyes, Mami looked back at her with the same glint. The two appeared to share a secret between the two of them.

Looking at Tsuna, Enma could perfectly understand what the secret was, and briefly wondered where he could sign up for the protection squad.

After Kyoko left, the three of them settled in the living room.

Tsuna stared at Mami, prompting her to sigh.

"You wanted to talk to me more about why I decided to go with the surgery after all." Tsuna cocked his head to the side.

Mami fiddled with the hem of her shirt before she went to seat herself next to Tsuna, "Yeah. I did; still do."

"Mami-chan," Tsuna started, "You know about what happened."

"I do." Mami bit her lower lip, "But, still, aren't you scared? Of what will happen after? Of what you will feel? Of what you _won't_ feel?"

"Of course I'm scared, Mami."

"Then, why-?!"

"Because I'm more scared of dying." Tsuna's lips twisted into a mockery of a smile, "Because I'm selfish and a coward. I have a lot of people I care about, a lot of people I'm selfish enough to want to keep. And I'm a coward, I'm afraid of death. I don't want to die. I'm not ready to die. And if all that is stopping me from living is Hanahaki, then I'll get rid of it."

Mami sagged into Tsuna's side, staying silent instead of replying.

The silence lasted for a minute before Mami stood and went to the kitchen, "Do you have cookies?"

"Yeah, the usual."

Mami opened the jar on the kitchen's table and peered in, making an excited noise before she put the lid back on it and scooped it into her arms, carrying it with her back into the room.

Tsuna looked back towards Enma, who had been merely observing the two throughout their interactions.

There was a spark in Tsuna's eyes, Enma noted, and while he didn't understand what the spark meant explicitly, the way the spark intensified when Tsuna's eyes landed on Mami, who was inhaling her way through the cookie jar, made a part of Enma stand up at attention, ring with mutual understanding; it made a part of Enma consider Tsuna one of his own, a member of the family.

A person to care about deeply beyond his friendship with Mami.

.

The ride back from Tsuna's place was silent, though this time, Enma had expected the silence.

The two had just entered their house when Mami surprised Enma by tightly wrapping her arms around Enma and burying her face in his chest.

Enma responded by wrapping his arms around her.

"Nii-chan," Mami spoke, her voice somewhat muffled into Enma's clothes, "Tsuna is brave. He calls himself a coward, but he's brave. Braver than me. I'm the coward, aren't I?"

Enma slightly freaked out, not knowing what to do; he was never good at talking to Mami when it came to Hanahaki-related things, evidenced by the fact that whenever he tried, he'd just end up fighting with her.

Mami solved his dilemma by stepping away from him, "I'm going to my room."

Enma remained where he stood for five minutes before heading to his own room, mind going a mile a minute.

He didn't know what having Hanahaki was like, but he knew that it was a disease that infected the mind and heart just as it did the body, that it infected people who were close to the ones who had it.

He knew what it felt like to wake up every day with the knowledge that it was another day closer to the deadline, to Mami hitting critical stage and there being no hope of either requited love or surgery to cure her.

He knew what it felt like to hold Mami's hair out of her face and rubbing her back as she had another bad attack and coughed blood and flowers all over the floor.

He knew what it felt like to hold his sister as she cried herself to sleep on the particularly bad days.

He knew he wanted that horrible infection uprooted from her body.

He knew he couldn't do much to convince her to have the surgery.

(But if Tsuna did, then by god Enma would lay the world at Tsuna's feet in gratitude.)

.

Mami mass-baked on the day of Tsuna's surgery and recruited Enma to help her.

"I know we can't go visit him in the hospital, but that isn't stopping me from visiting him after he's released OR sending him cookies."

"Oh? And how are you planning to send them?" Enma said as he finished packing the cookies into tupper-ware.

The doorbell rang and Mami rushed to answer it, coming back a second later while dragging Fuuta behind her.

"Here! Give these to Tsuna and send him our regards. Tell him we'll be visiting him after he's released."

Fuuta smiled at Mami as he received the cookies, "Thanks. I'm sure Tsuna-nii will love them."

Mami's cheeks colored slightly as she averted her eyes, "Yeah, sure, he better. Go and give him those already."

"I will, see you later! I'll text you when I have news!"

"Okay!"

Enma put his arm around Mami's shoulders after she returned from sending Fuuta off.

Fuuta was a good kid, honestly, no wonder his sister grew smitten with him.

"I didn't know you know how to bake."

"I don't."

Enma froze, "What?"

Mami sent him a sly smirk, "I don't know how to bake. Tsuna better come teach me after."

Enma huffed in amusement, "So, Fuuta, huh. Is he the reason you met Tsuna?"

Mami hummed as she took off the apron she wore, "He convinced me to join a Hanahaki support group, told me his adopted brother was in one. And when I accepted, he personally took me to the same group his brother was in."

Enma smiled softly at the fond look Mami had in her eyes.

"He said he wanted me to be in good hands, and if there was anyone he'd entrust me to, it'd be his brother."

Enma's smile widened; maybe he should get Fuuta a nice gift to thank him for the miracle that was Mami meeting Tsuna.

.

Mami didn't drag Enma to Tsuna's place on the same day Tsuna was discharged from the hospital, but she sure did drag him on the very next day, not that Enma needed dragging.

The door to Tsuna's place was opened to reveal a tall guy with dark hair, amber eyes and a cheerful smile. His smile widened when he saw Mami, "Mami! Hi! This must be your brother, right? I'm Yamamoto Takeshi, it's nice to meet you."

Enma smiled in return, "It's nice to meet you, too, I'm Enma."

Yamamoto ushered them in and the two siblings found themselves in the center of a chaotic storm.

Everything was a mess, there were people squabbling and Tsuna was threateningly holding a broom to a guy with sharp gray eyes, which were narrowed as his hands twitched to reach for something.

"Tsunayoshi, cease your childish tantrums this moment before I personally tie you down to your bed."

"Ooh, kinky," A guy with mismatched eyes said, the sly smile on his face widening, "Those chains of yours must have had a different _purpose_ all this time, Skylark-kun."

'Skylark' turned to him with a snarl, a pair of gleaming, silver tonfa dropping into his hands before he launched at the person who provoked them.

Mami had a wobbly smile on her face as she surveyed the chaos; Yamamoto chuckled good-naturedly while Enma almost gaped in shock.

(Almost, his own family was just as bad most of the time.)

A silver-haired guy walked up to them, fixing his lopsided glasses.

"You're here," He said briskly, "Your cookies sucked, we gave them to Fuuta."

"Ma, Hayato, you shouldn't be so harsh with Mami, I'm sure she tried her best."

Mami nodded.

"YOU CAME!" Tsuna rushed at them.

Hayato switched from serious to frantic, "Boss! You shouldn't be running around! You need your rest!"

Tsuna leaped at Enma and latched onto him like a koala. Enma teetered in place, trying to accommodate the sudden weight.

Tsuna stiffened, and whispered into Enma's shoulder, "Am I heavy?"

Mami must have heard as she gave Enma a _Look_ , daring him to say yes.

"Ah, no." And truly, Tsuna was lighter and thinner than a healthy person his age should be. Then again, if he'd been in a Hanahaki stage as advanced as Enma thought, then loss of appetite was predictable; Mami herself could barely force a couple mouthfuls of food down her throat on the worse days.

"I have the urge to feed you." Enma said, light-hearted, "But I'm afraid that I'm not a good cook." He joked.

Tsuna relaxed against him and hummed, "Hey, Enma, I want to cuddle, do you mind?"

There were multiple pairs of eyes zeroed in on him, all sharp and intense, promising untold pain to Enma if he- Enma didn't know what they wanted him to _not_ say in response.

But it wasn't like he could say no when Tsuna was literally wrapped around him, "I don't mind at all."

"Okay, to my room then."

Enma could feel the killer intent in the room spike and bear down on him like a physical weight.

Enma shrugged it off and followed Tsuna's directions to his room.

(Tsuna's friends had a pretty impressive KI, but so did Adel, and they were no Adel.)

It wasn't until after he arrived at Tsuna's room and locked the door like Tsuna asked him, that the realization of where exactly he was crashed on him.

He was alone with the same cute guy he met only a week ago, in the aforementioned cute guy's room with a promise of cuddles.

Tsuna urged him towards the bed, and he moved stiffly; he was not ready yet.

As he put Tsuna down on the bed and was tugged down to sit next to Tsuna, he tried to relax.

Tsuna put his head on Enma's shoulder and sighed, his energy from before draining from him.

The two sat in silence for a long time, long enough for Enma to relax. Long enough, in fact, that Enma suspected Tsuna fell asleep.

"Thanks for coming over," Tsuna whispered, sounding tired, "I appreciate it."

"It was no bother." Enma paused for a moment, "Do you want to talk?" He felt Tsuna stiffen and he hurried to explain, "Not about the surgery, but anything you'd like to talk about."

"What if I want to talk about how horrible Mami's cookies were?" Tsuna replied blithely.

Enma snorted, "Oh, that's, wow, yeah, we heard. How bad?"

Tsuna stared at him with an unimpressed look in his eyes, whether because of the choice of topic or because of how bad the cookies were, Enma didn't know, "They were too hard and the sides were burned. That's all I got before I gave them up as a lost cause. Anymore and you'll have to ask Fuuta."

Enma grimaced, "Poor guy, I hope he doesn't eat them if they're that bad. Or maybe find something else to do with them. I've wanted to get him something nice, this will be the perfect excuse."

Tsuna's eyes bore into him, and Enma met them head on, wondering what the intensity in them meant, "Is there something wrong?"

"You don't hate Fuuta."

Enma blinked, "Hate is a rather strong word, I wouldn't think I'd ever have a reason to _hate_ Fuuta."

"Dislike, then, or intolerance."

"Why would I? Fuuta is a nice kid. And he's a good friend to Mami."

"It's because of Mami."

Mami's Hanahaki, went unsaid but still heard.

So this was about Fuuta being the object of Mami's unrequited feelings.

Enma was silent for a moment before he decided that honesty was the best approach; this was the person who was a dear friend to his sister, the person who helped her out, and the person with the best chance to convince Mami to have the surgery.

He'd already entrusted saving Mami's life to him, and he deserved an honest response.

"To tell you the truth, at first I did. When I heard about the Hanahaki, when I heard that Mami was in love with Fuuta. But then I haven't met Fuuta yet." Enma stared at his hands, Tsuna was silent at his side, "After I met him, though, after I met him and saw how serious he was about Mami getting help, I changed my mind. It was hard not to. I'm not sure if he knows he's the one Mami loves, but that's not what matters to him, he values her as a dear friend and he wants her safe and healthy."

"You want Mami to be safe and healthy too; wouldn't you have preferred that she be healed from Hanahaki without the surgery?"

"Of course! Except that's not possible, is it? Fuuta loves Mami, but not in the way Mami needs to heal." Enma smiled sadly, "I'd have told her to ask him out on a date, to woo him as a potential romantic partner."

"But Fuuta is aromantic."

"And that's the thing."

There was a moment of silence before Tsuna poked him in the side and asked, "You mentioned dating?"

"Hmm, yes. You know, Hanahaki takes a couple of years to reach the no turning back stage. Two years are long enough to woo someone."

Tsuna hummed, "I never thought of it this way." There was a tone of wonder in his voice.

"Not many do, most of the stories you hear are about people confessing to the ones they have an unrequited love for after a long time passes." Enma's lips thinned, "And it's always a mess."

"Or they suffer to the bitter end." Tsuna turned his face to look out the window, "Here's to hoping Mami doesn't end up as one of them."

Enma hung his head, "Yeah; here's to hoping Mami doesn't end up as one of them."

.

Enma dragged himself out of his office at home and down to the kitchen, calling out to Mami as he went, "Mami! Please tell me we still have leftovers from yesterday's lunch and that we don't have to scramble to make a meal today?"

Mami's silence was enough of a response.

Enma groaned; he was hungry and it was already past lunch time. He and Mami stuck to simple recipes and take-out. Even then, cooking wasn't easy for them, and Enma refused to let Mami survive on just take-out until their parents returned from abroad and their mother saved them with her blessed from the heavens cooking (and their father graced them with his awesome coffee).

Enma dragged his feet into the kitchen and opened the fridge despite Mami gesturing to him that there was no use.

Enma groaned again; there was only water and juice inside the fridge, and the freezer only contained ice cubes and a tub of ice-cream.

Oh, great, they needed groceries too. Give Enma a vigilante group turned mafia family turned business company, and he'd manage it; give him a kitchen to run and he'd break down in tears.

The doorbell rang; Enma ignored it while Mami went to open the door.

"Oh hey, did I come at a bad time?" Fuuta's voice came from the doorway.

Enma turned to observe Fuuta awkwardly shuffle his legs and half-smile at the two siblings, he held up the paper bags in his hands, "So, uh, remember Mami's cookies?"

Mami twitched; Enma hoped Fuuta didn't criticize the cookies.

"There were a lot and we couldn't eat everything." Fuuta chuckled, "So, Lambo, I-Pin and I teamed up and broke them down for mama to use with the pudding she was making."

Mami's voice contained a dangerous edge as she spoke, "And you brought it all here?"

Fuuta, bless his soul, could tread Mami's temper with ease, "Oh no, only one of those bags has the pudding, the majority of it went to Tsuna-nii's fridge. Mama said, and I agree with her, that he'd need it. The rest of the bags are from Tsuna-nii."

Mami cocked her head to the side, her annoyance about the cookie subsiding now that she knew Tsuna would have them in the end, "And what's in them?"

"Pastries, and a couple of pies." Fuuta gave Mami the bags and scratched his head, slightly bashful, "Tsuna-nii stress-baked after he kicked out all the others from his house this morning."

Enma stared longingly at the bags. Mami side-eyed him while Fuuta stared at him with a strange, expectant look.

Mami and Fuuta shared a look before nodding in unison and working on opening one of the bags.

As the bag was opened, the smell of heaven wafted through the place. Mami walked up to him and stuffed the pastry she had into his mouth.

Enma wondered if what he just tasted was food of the gods.

"Where can I sign my soul over to your brother?"

Fuuta hid a chuckle, "I'm afraid I didn't bring the usual contract with me."

Mami face palmed.

Enma inwardly marveled at the wonder that was Sawada Tsunayoshi; he was cute, good with Mami, caring about his siblings and an amazing cook. Enma never thought perfect people existed before. Apparently, he was wrong.

Enma squinted at Fuuta, "Bring the contract next time?"

Fuuta chuckled, "We'll see."

.

Fuuta never brought the contract and Enma pouted for a week straight. Mami, the traitor, told Adel about it, which led to Enma enduring a lecture from Adel while in seiza.

Enma sighed as Adel let off the barrage of sharp glares and scathing remarks.

"I'm going to meet him."

"What?" Enma felt dread fill him up.

"This Sawada Tsunayoshi. It's been a long time coming. I've heard about him from Mami on many occasions but I never considered going to meet him personally before now. Given what I've been hearing, I really shouldn't delay anymore."

Enma whipped his head to stare at Mami, who shrugged at him, "What? Why would I have told you about him? For one thing, I know you and I know the type of people who turn your head; I didn't think Tsuna needed that drama following him around." She sniffed, "If I had my way, you probably wouldn't have met that day anyway. But he insisted on accompanying me. I mentioned you to him a couple of times before and I guess he was curious about you."

Enma blinked. Tsuna wasn't so much curious about Enma as he was about what Enma's stance on Fuuta was, Enma knew that perfectly well.

(Had he been in Tsuna's shoes, he'd have done the same.)

As much as Adel wanted to march straight to Tsuna's place, they had to call in first.

"He says he's fine with us visiting." Mami said as she put her phone back in her pocket, "I'm pretty sure he was going to blithely tell me not to come over before he heard about Adel. So, consider it a stroke of luck. I know for a fact he's been turning anyone wanting to check in on him away."

Adel observed Enma carefully as he fiddled with his clothes to make them look more presentable.

"What?" Enma noticed her share a look with Mami.

"You're being too obvious, Enma, that's what."

Enma refused to blush.

"You're totally blushing."

He inwardly cursed.

"Now come along, chauffer."

.

Tsuna greeted them at the door, looking like he hadn't slept at all in the past week and carrying papers.

As he ushered them in, Enma hung back to take the papers from him and guide him to one of the couches. Tsuna followed without protest.

Tsuna blinked at Adel, "You're Suzuki."

Adel inclined her head, "You've heard of me before?"

Tsuna nodded, "At first, I didn't make the connection. But now that I know what you look like, I could make a guess. I heard about you from Kyouya."

"Kyouya?" Adel raised an eyebrow, " _Hibari_ Kyouya?"

Tsuna nodded again.

Adel's eyebrow climbed higher, "You're Kyo's boss."

Enma and Mami shared a confused look; the two knew of each other? What a strange coincidence.

Tsuna smiled faintly, "He doesn't like it when people phrase it like that."

Adel scoffed, a rare, mischievous spark entering her eyes, "Well, Kyo could _bite_ me."

Tsuna snorted, then started snickering. Mami let out a choked sound, as if she didn't know whether to find the situation amusing or horrifying. Enma inwardly pouted, he was feeling left out, and completely missing what was sure to be an inside-joke.

Tsuna's snickers petered off before he stood and headed to the kitchen, a spring in his step, "This reminds me, I have some vegetable spring rolls."

And just what, exactly, could the conversation have with vegetable spring rolls?

Adel smirked, "It's good to know Kyo is grown up enough to associate with vegetables-eating people."

Tsuna _laughed_.

(Best laugh Enma ever heard, if he was being honest. Maybe he should bring Adel with him next time too?)

.

Enma snuck out of his house.

It was rare for him to ditch the paperwork and just leave the house for hours on end, but sometimes the work became too much and he needed to breathe. And with his parents finally back from their trip abroad, he felt comfortable leaving the house and Mami in their care.

The night's cool air whipped around him, refreshing him and energizing him.

Enma breathed deeply and relished merging into the crowd. Maybe he should go get some food and head into the river side; he hadn't visited the cats that usually stayed there in a long while.

On his way to the river side after buying what he was looking for, he came across an unexpected sight: Tsuna was sitting on one of the benches, engrossed in watching what sounded like a kendo match on his phone.

Enma wondered whether he should call out to Tsuna or leave him be, as he looked very into the match. A closer look decided for him; Tsuna's features were drawn with sadness and old grief, his eyes were glistening with tears and he looked ready to break into sobs at any moment.

Without giving himself time to second guess his decision, he called out, "Hey, Tsuna!"

Tsuna nearly jumped from his seat, fumbling with his phone to put it away, the sounds muting and the image disappearing, and whipping his head around to see who called out to him, "Enma!"

Enma deftly ignored how Tsuna's voice wobbled and didn't bring up how Tsuna rubbed his hands across his eyes to wipe away the moisture.

"What are you doing out so late?"

Enma carefully didn't reflect the question at Tsuna and simply raised the bag of food in his hand, "Taking some time away from responsibilities. Kaa-san and tou-san are back home, so I'm leaving the house and Mami in their care for the night and going out to have some fun."

Enma smiled, "I know stray cats tend to gather at the river side, under the bridge, so I'm taking some food for them. Maybe they'll even let me play with them."

Enma lingered a moment on an idea that crossed his mind before deciding to risk, "Do you want to come with me?"

Tsuna scrutinized him for a moment before nodding, "It's not like I was doing anything that important anyway."

.

The walk to the river side was silent.

Enma inwardly berated himself for his stupid, rash decision all the way; one, he'd be alone with Tsuna with just cats for company; two, what if Tsuna didn't even like cats and only came along just to humor him; three, did he mention that he would be alone with Tsuna?

"We're here," Enma gestured down the slope, taking the lead and walking over to the usual spot he settled himself in every time, the sound of footsteps behind him told him that Tsuna was following.

After they arrived and settled down, Enma took out the food he brought, opening the cans and packets and laying them on the ground. A couple of cats were already gathering around.

Enma scratched the back of his head and snuck a look at Tsuna before he coughed in embarrassment, "I… it was rude of me to ask you to accompany me out of the blue. Do you even like cats?"

Tsuna surprised him with a small, genuine smile as he offered his hand to one of the cats, "I do. I have one of my own actually. His name is Natsu."

"You do?" Enma racked his memory trying to recall seeing a cat whenever he visited Tsuna but he turned up blank.

"Yeah. It's just that he's been in Namimori with mama for the last couple of months." Tsuna mused, his smile widening at the cat butting its head against his hand, "That reminds me, I need to get him back, I missed him. Tie up loose ends while I'm at it, too." His voice grew quiet and his eyes hazy, his focus turning to whatever he was thinking about at the moment.

His focus wasn't gone long, though, as the cat butting its head against Tsuna's hand decided to jump into his lap and rub against him.

Enma smiled at the sight of Tsuna relaxed and content while playing with the cat.

.

That night, Enma went back home with memories of Tsuna laughing and recounting stories about Natsu with a fond look. Memories Enma would cherish forever.

.

Enma leaned back in his desk chair and sighed, wondering what was happening with Tsuna; he'd said last night that he was going to Namimori the next day, but didn't specify at which hour. Enma had woken up at the crack of dawn and spent all the time leading up to breakfast staring at his phone, agonizing on whether he should contact Tsuna and ask if Enma could drive him to his destination or leave it be.

His phone rang, indicating a message, and he fumbled through the papers on his desk as he looked for the phone. Unlocking his phone, he found a message from Tsuna, asking him if he had lunch yet and if he hadn't, would he be willing to have lunch with Tsuna?

Enma stopped breathing for five minutes straight.

 _[I brought my cat :3]_

Emna sent back a _[YES!]_ and threw himself back into his chair, face buried in his hands.

One: he was just invited to have lunch with Tsuna. Two: Tsuna probably thought that _his cat_ was what sold Enma to the idea. What was a guy to do? What should he do? How could he clear up the possible misunderstanding? Should he just say 'I came because I'll be spending time basking in your presence not because I was bribed with a cat'? No, that was too much.

His phone chimed again with an incoming message.

 _[I'll be there to pick you up in five]_

Wait, _what?_ Enma scrambled out of his chair and stormed out of the office, his feet thumping on the floor as he rushed to his room.

Mami poked her head out of her room, pen almost slipping off of her ear as she stared at him, bewildered, "Enma-nii? What?"

Enma entered his room and threw open his closet, "Tsuna is going to come pick me up in five minutes to have lunch together!"

Mami gaped at him.

"Exactly!" Enma said, pointing at her before he returned to stare at his closet, "I don't know what to wear!"

In the five minutes it took Tsuna to text Enma telling him that he arrived, Enma and Mami accomplished nothing more than upturning Enma's closet and running around like headless chicken while trying to find suitable clothes for Enma.

The two siblings stared at each other with silent horror before they trudged out of the room, Enma hunched over and trailing after Mami as she led him to the slaughter.

When the two reached the house's entrance, they both took a fortifying breath and Enma straightened up; their parents were watching from the living room with confusion.

"I'm going to open the door," Mami said, her hand on the door handle.

"Yeah, okay, go ahead."

Mami opened the door and saw Tsuna leaning on his car, which was parked in front of the house, and playing with the cat held in his arms.

 _Damn, so pure_ , Mami thought as she called out to Tsuna, "Hey, Tsuna-nii!"

Tsuna responded to her with a stunning, wide smile, "Hey, Mami! Where's Enma?"

Mami vaguely gestured behind her, still amazed by the smile Tsuna was still sending her way (and were those _sparkles?_ ); she'd never seen him smile like that before and wondered what type of magic was worked on him and if it had anything to do with the cat.

Enma walked out of the house with as much dignity as he could muster after finger-combing his messy hair and adjusting his clothes so that they may hopefully be seen as stylishly messy instead of 'I woke up at the crack of dawn and didn't bother with putting on anything decent for the day' messy.

(He hoped Adel never heard of this, she'd kill him if she did.)

"Hey, Tsuna."

"Oh. Hey, Enma." Tsuna's smile turned apologetic, "I'm sorry if I sprang this on you all of a sudden. I was too excited to show you Natsu and didn't realize what I did until after I parked in front of your house."

Enma waved it off, trying to act as casual as he possible, "It's okay. Anything for you."

Tsuna blushed slightly; Enma didn't have time to ponder how serious he was when he said it before he was pulled into the car by Tsuna.

The cat, Natsu, shyly peered at him from Tsuna's arms and Enma smiled back at him, offering a hand.

Natsu inched his head towards Enma's hand, sniffing him before gently butting his head against the hand. Natsu then hopped into Enma's lap, Enma's hand reaching towards his head to pet him.

Enma turned his head towards Tsuna to comment on Natsu's unfair cuteness when he caught the look on Tsuna's face; Tsuna was looking at the two of them with a gentle, almost wistful, look on his face. Enma's breath caught in his throat at the sight. It wasn't just that the cat had unfair cuteness, his owner had unfair beauty and how could Enma survive that?

Tsuna shook himself out of his musings and got into the car; he called out to Mami, "See you later!"

Mami waved to them before she returned to the house, no doubt going to tell their curious parents about Enma's impossibly adorable crush. Enma inwardly grimaced; he was going to be interrogated about it once he got back, he was sure of that.

Tsuna turned on the car's engine and said, "There is so much I'd like to tell you-" Tsuna turned his head to face Enma with a vulnerable look, "-if you're okay with it."

There was no way Enma could survive or _resist_ , was there? He was so screwed.

"I don't mind at all."

.

Enma got out of the car and slumped to the ground, contemplating whether he should kiss it in relief or not.

Tsuna got out and walked around the car to reach Enma; looking at him, he asked, "Hey, you okay?"

Natsu prodded Enma's cheek with a paw.

Enma groaned, "I'm okay…" He had no idea that Tsuna was one of those wild drivers.

(Which made Enma wonder if Tsuna ever rode a bike or was interested in doing so.)

Enma rose to his feet and followed Tsuna inside to his house.

While Tsuna busied himself in the kitchen, Enma gingerly sat down at one of the kitchen's chairs.

"You said that you wanted to tell me something? Do you want to do it now or later?"

Tsuna carried over plates to the kitchen's table and brought out tupper-ware containing food, a delicious aroma filled the kitchen as Tsuna ladled out the food, putting aside Natsu's share.

Five minutes passed in silence as the two busied themselves with watching Natsu eat.

And then Tsuna sighed, combing a hand through his messy hair and taking out his phone.

Tsuna fiddled with his phone as he started talking, "When I went to Namimori today, I didn't just visit mama and got Natsu back, I went to the cemetery there." Tsuna gave Enma the phone, which showed on its screen a guy who looked to be around Enma's age, with messy dark hair, dark eyes, carrying a trophy and a shinai.

"His name was Mochida Kensuke."

Enma looked at Tsuna and saw him stare at the phone with a sad look on his face; Enma put Tsuna's phone down as he listened, realization dawning on him.

"He used to be a bully when we were younger. Kept on being an asshole all the way until his final year of middle school. I don't know what changed him, he never told me. But when I started high school, he apologized to me." Tsuna's mouth twisted, "I didn't believe him at first, and he understood that. He gave me my space, he spent years paying me back for what he did to me when we were kids. As much as he could, he said, he wasn't asking for forgiveness."

Tsuna sat back in his chair, silent for some time, Enma didn't know how long, before he took a deep, shuddering breath, "He got it anyway, not that he knew. Sometimes I wish I told him, but I don't know how he would have taken it. It was a couple of years later that I fell in love with him."

Tsuna pulled Natsu, who had just finished eating, towards him and hugged him to his chest as if looking for comfort that relieved him and hurt him in equal measures. Enma ached to wrap him in a hug, to take his hurt away, to keep him safe; but he couldn't. He balled his hands to fists, nails digging into his palms, while crossing his arms over his chest, physically preventing himself from acting on his impulses.

"I don't know when exactly I fell in love with him. But I do know when I realized I did. It was on the day he gave me Natsu, I went back home, giddy, excited, and very much wanting to scream into a pillow." Tsuna's lips curled into a bitter smile, "I didn't get to scream."

Enma had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he knew where the story was heading.

"I coughed out petals and I knew. It was difficult-" Tsuna cut himself off with a gasp. Enma almost shot out of his seat but Tsuna waved him off.

"I- I didn't know what to do, so I started to distance myself from him. I don't know what he thought my reasons were, but he didn't push at me and started to distance himself as well. Eight months later, he died in a car crash." Tsuna gave into his urge to cry; Natsu mewled in distress.

This time, Enma didn't hold himself back and walked over to Tsuna, gathering him into his arms and letting him cry his heart out. Tsuna needed comfort and Enma was a good friend to the people he cared about (and Tsuna had pretty much speed-climbed that list).

Tsuna's tears didn't stop until half an hour later, his shaking subsiding, but Tsuna didn't break away from Enma.

"I thought I did my crying for the day." Tsuna let out a hoarse chuckle, "Apparently, I was wrong."

Enma tightened his arms around Tsuna in response, and Tsuna did the same, "Thank you, Enma. You're a great friend."

"Anytime," Enma whispered, burying his face in Tsuna's hair, "Anything for you, Tsuna."

(Tsuna didn't hear him, or if he did, then he didn't show it.)

(Enma should have realized it then and there, that his feelings were already changing, evolving, growing into more than he perceived a simple crush would become. But he didn't.)

.

(It wouldn't take him long to realize it, though.)

.

On her next support group meeting, Mami told her family not to pick her up after.

"I already agreed to meet up with a friend," She'd said.

Enma didn't understand what she meant until after she returned.

When she entered the house, her family's attention was spread between the pensive look on her face and the bag she carried in her hands. Looking at her family, she had the strangest look on her face, a mix of resignation and determination.

Enma liked the look; there was a fire lit in Mami's eyes, a fire that Enma hadn't seen in such a long time.

Mami walked towards her family members with deliberate steps. She sat down facing them and opened the bag. The delicious smell of fresh cookies wafted to the air.

"I was at Tsuna's place today, he taught me how to make cookies." Mami offered the cookies to her family. Her parents each took out one but didn't eat, choosing to keep their attention on their daughter. Enma pushed a cookie into his mouth, breaking off a piece to chew slowly in hopes to distract himself from thinking about where this conversation was heading (or where he wished with all his being this conversation was heading).

"We talked a lot, too, about bravery and cowardice and selfishness." Mami waved her hands around, as if trying to detract from the seriousness of the situation. Enma's eyes blurred with oncoming tears as he choked down the cookie piece he was chewing, and he tried, and failed, to keep his hopes down.

"Kaa-san, tou-san, Enma-nii, I decided that I am going with the surgery after all."

Enma's tears spilled, his breath shuddering in his body, his shoulders sagging as if a heavy weight toppled from them.

"Nii-chan!" Mami frantically tried to wipe his tears, but more and more tears spilled from his eyes.

Enma grabbed her and brought her close to him, hugging her tight and not wanting to let her go; their parents joined in on the embrace, arms wrapping around their children.

Mami cried into his shoulder.

(She was his baby sister; she always cried whenever he did.)

(She was his baby sister and he was so, _so_ glad they were finally walking a real step towards her recovery.)

.

Enma insistently rang Tsuna's doorbell.

The door opened, showing a confused Tsuna, who looked even more confused as well as worried when he caught sight of Enma's tear-streaked face and red, puffy eyes, "Enma? What Happened? Were you crying? What-?"

Enma interrupted him by hugging him.

Tsuna was bewildered, "Enma?"

Enma buried his face in Tsuna's shoulder, 'thank you's spilling from his lips at a frantic pace as if his life depended on it.

Tsuna wrapped his arms around Enma and patted him on the back, and Enma almost laughed hysterically at how their positions where switched from last time.

Enma didn't know when he stopped, when Tsuna pulled him inside and sat him down; he only came back to his awareness when Tsuna put a steaming cup of tea in front of him.

"Are you feeling better?"

Enma let out a quiet chuckle, "Yes. Much better. Thank you."

"So you've said." Tsuna smiled good-naturedly at him.

"I don't think I've said it enough." Enma's eyes met Tsuna's, "I don't know if you know the extent of what you did. You convinced Mami to accept the option of surgery."

"She was already thinking about it when she came here today."

"Also because of you! Because you did it first, she felt safe enough in the possibility, felt brave enough to consider it." Enma pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes for a moment before he removed them to look at Tsuna, who was observing him carefully, "You let her know that letting herself go, letting herself die from Hanahaki wasn't necessary."

Tsuna sat himself down next to Enma, nudging his leg, "Okay, I get it." Tsuna stared into Enma's eyes, "You're not her only brother, you know? I think I was going to cry for a moment there, when you told me. So, she's really going for it, huh?" Tsuna's eyes glistened with unshed tears, but he didn't let them spill, "Well, I'm glad too. I know she's going to hurt, but she'll get better. I know she's strong, she'll pull through." The look in Tsuna's eyes intensified, making them appear as if they were glowing.

"Now, drink your tea. I'll get you some of the cookies Mami and I made today. Speaking of which, tell me of the date of the surgery when Mami schedules it so that I know on which day I should burn at least three batches of cookies in advance."

Enma laughed.

.

Enma paced in the hallway outside of Mami's operation room, his parents were seated in the chairs provided, tense and still.

Mami had just been admitted to the room not five minutes ago and already Enma was being wracked by nerves.

He knew that the fatality rate of Hanahaki surgeries was very low, almost nonexistent, but it didn't stop him from worrying.

His set of footsteps was joined by another and he looked at his parents to see which of them stood up, but neither of them had. A look down the corridor told him who joined them.

Enma's breath caught in his throat as he saw Tsuna approach him, a paper bag in hand. Tsuna smiled at him, causing Enma's worry to lighten- it hadn't disappeared, but suddenly, it was all much more bearable.

Tsuna smiled at him and raised the bag in his hand, "I burned the cookie batches, as promised."

Enma almost burst into hysterical laughter.

Tsuna sniffed, "You don't have to look incredulous. I'll have you know the cookies would be amazing with pudding. Pudding is good, heavenly even." Tsuna shoved the bag into Enma's hands and directed him to set in one of the chairs.

Enma inhaled and exhaled, "Yeah, okay, I get it. Anyway, what are _you_ doing here? Aren't family members the only ones allowed here?"

"I know someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows the hospital management." Tsuna winked at him. Tsuna _winked! At! Him!_ Enma nearly died, then and there, and Tsuna didn't seem to notice, "Besides, I'm already a family member, aren't I? That's my little sister in the room."

Enma's mother huffed and stood up, grabbing Tsuna from the arm and tugging him towards her; she kissed him on the forehead and pulled him to the seats, pushing him to sit between her and her husband.

Enma's father patted Tsuna on the head, chuckling lightly, "You certainly are, Tsu."

Enma's brain almost short-circuited, _of course_ his parents knew Tsuna; they were the ones who dropped Mami off to her support group meetings and picked her up before they had to go abroad for business and Enma was delegated to the job. It was only logical that they'd met Tsuna.

(Hell, they probably dropped Tsuna off at his house, too.)

In a bid to distract himself of his family's treachery (his parents and sister knew one of the most amazing people on earth and they didn't even bother to tell him about it!), he checked the bag's content, wondering how badly Tsuna purposefully ruined the cookies, only to see that the cookies weren't burned at all.

He closed the bag and looked questioningly at Tsuna, who cocked an eyebrow at him and said, "I hope you didn't expect me to actually give Mami charcoal for her recovery. I do know how to bake."

Enma merely shook his head and turned it to stare at the surgery room's door, anticipating news about Mami.

Except this time, the sense of foreboding and suffocating worry had dispelled, lingering behind as mere smoky trails.

.

Mami came out of the surgery in good health and faster than her family expected.

Not that they weren't glad for it.

("It's because her Hanahaki was still in the middle stages," Tsuna had explained, "The earlier you get the flowers removed, the faster.")

The hospital kept her overnight for observation and discharged her the next day.

Their return was without fanfare; though Adel and Rauji were waiting for them when they got back.

"Of course we were waiting," Adel said in response to his surprise, "Mami was just discharged from the hospital after going through surgery to remove her Hanahaki, and you expect us not to wait?"

Enma shook his head as he followed his parents and Mami into the house, "That's not it. How did you know when she was discharged? Even we didn't know the exact time."

"I know someone," Adel smirked at him.

Enma stared at her for a few second before realization dawned on him, "You're in contact with Tsuna."

Adel's smirk merely widened in response.

Mami's welcome back committee didn't stop there, not that Enma expected it to; not an hour later, Kaoru, Shittopi, Koyo and Julie came over.

Their presence as a whole was boisterous (as was their habit) and Enma was thankful for it; their constant snarking and remarks didn't give Mami the time to dwell on her feelings, or lack thereof. Enma knew better than to think it was a coincidence.

The impromptu 'welcome back' party lasted well into the night, until Enma's and Mami's mother deemed the time too late and ordered them to bed.

The group crashed on the couches, Mami carefully and intentionally positioned in the middle in a way that wouldn't let her sneak away without alerting anyone to the fact.

They'd let her have her space the next day, but for now, they were selfish and needed to keep her close, to bask in the fact that she escaped almost inevitable, too close for comfort, death.

Enma threw himself next to Kaoru on the floor, near the couch Adel and Julie commandeered to wrap Mami between them, and smiled to himself. Rauji inched close to him as Koyo turned off the lights and joined them. Shittopi sprawled herself over one of the single-seat couches, feet thrown on top of the coffee table.

Enma drifted into sleep, content and relaxed with his family's presence around him.

.

The next day brought surprises, mainly for Mami.

When the doorbell rang insistently, everyone was confused; they weren't expecting anyone and Tsuna promised to text to tell them when he was going to come over.

Enma went to open the door and was astonished when he saw Fuuta at the door, looking disheveled, tapping his foot and fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

When Fuuta saw the door had opened, he rushed inside, side-stepping Enma on his way in.

His feet thumped on the ground as he followed the sounds to the living room.

Enma followed after him, worried about what may happen now, with Mami and Fuuta under the same roof.

"Mami?" Enma heard Fuuta whisper.

"Fuuta…" Mami responded faintly, looking like she was seeing Fuuta for the first time. Tears gathered in her eyes, "Fuuta."

Fuuta's shoulders were trembling as he walked towards her and cradled her face with his hands before engulfing her in a fierce hug; she hugged him back, just as tightly.

And then the two broke into tears.

Enma shuffled awkwardly in place, what was he supposed to do now? His phone chimed in an incoming message; it was from Tsuna.

 _[Is Fuuta at your place? Mama called me and told me he left in a hurry this morning and didn't tell her where he was going.]_

 _[I told him about Mami.]_

Enma raked his hand through his hair and wondered if Tsuna would be any help with the crying mess.

 _[Yeah, he's here.]_

Tsuna's reply was fast.

 _[!]_

 _[I'm sorry! I didn't know he'd go over so quickly!]_

Enma quirked a fond smile, Fuuta coming over wasn't a bad thing, exactly, Enma was just shocked.

Perhaps Fuuta was the help Mami needed.

 _[it's okay. I don't mind.]_

 _[It's just that… he and Mami are clinging to each and crying.]_

 _[And I don't know what to do.]_

 _[Should I come over or do you think Mami has her hands full with one person crying on her?]_

Enma smiled at his phone.

 _[I think Fuuta has it covered.]_

 _[Besides, even if Mami has her hands full with Fuuta, I'll gladly give you a shoulder to cry on.]_

Enma put his phone in his pocket and his flaming face in his hands, he couldn't believe what he just said to Tsuna.

The phone chimed again.

Enma breathed deeply, mentally and emotionally preparing himself to the response.

 _[Naw. I think I've cried enough on your shoulder these past few weeks to last us months ^^;]_

 _[I don't think I've ever properly thanked you for that :3]_

 _[My door is always open for you. You're always welcome :D]_

Enma smothered a scream, staring at the screen.

Adel snatched the phone from him, inspecting what pulled at his attention so strongly. Enma couldn't even muster energy to scramble after the phone to try and avoid the inevitable embarrassment.

Adel typed on his phone with a curious look on her face. The phone rang with another message, and Adel's facial expression turned into a satisfied one as she read the contents.

She looked back at Enma with a raised eyebrow, noticing how he was still rooted in place; pocketing his phone, she guided Enma towards a seat.

"You stay here until you finally muster up the energy to move, okay?"

Enma nodded mutely.

.

He didn't get to check (rather, didn't gather the energy to check) until late in the evening.

 _[This is Adel. You completely rendered Enma unable to function.]_

 _[Oh my god D: I'm sorry T^T Maybe I shouldn't have came onto him so strongly ^^;]_

Enma dropped the phone as Enma .exe stopped working for the second time that day.

.

Enma was booted by his family out of the house the next day to _actually_ go to work, instead of operating from home.

His parents were back from abroad and Mami had been discharged from the hospital the day before yesterday; he had no excuse to not go to his main office anymore.

The thought of the amount of paperwork that would be delegated to him now that he was back again made him despair.

(And Adel would be there, which meant no chance to 'take a break'. Read: ditch work.)

He sighed and squared his shoulders, fixing a smile on his face before entering the building housing the Shimon's business company. He was greeted by the passing workers on his way to the elevator, many of which asked him about Mami's health and expressed interest in checking up on her.

Enma waved at them and told them to ask his parents about visiting as the elevator's doors closed.

The elevator was empty, thankfully, so he used the chance to sag against the wall.

Back to work with him it was.

The moment the doors opened, he rose up and dragged his feet out.

"Good timing," Adel said the moment she saw him, approaching him and pushing the folders in her hand to him, "The Vongola sent back the financial reports."

Enma blinked, "Aren't those the ones I sent back before I relocated to the office in my house? That was almost a month ago."

"Yes," Adel said, her mouth set in a firm line; Enma sweat-dropped.

At least he wasn't the only family head who liked to procrastinate on regular basis.

Enma dragged himself over to his office, he was back to work.

 _Great._

At least the chair was comfortable.

Enma stared at the folders for five minutes straight, wondering with which one he should start.

After much deliberation, he picked the thickest one, better get the worst out of the way first and end on a light note.

Opening the folder, he saw that the reports inside were signed, money transfers were authorized, and a request to visit Shimon Island was sent.

Enma blinked at the request, wondering what the Vongola could possibly want from the Island. It wasn't like there was much of material value there, and that was the point of the whole contact that was made with the Vongola. As far as Enma remembered and from what his father told him, Kozato Makoto, Enma's father and the pseudo-former Shimon head, had contacted the Vongola with an agreement to help renovate the Island after an attack by a rogue spirit.

(That was one wild story. Enma would have been of a mind to dismiss it as fiction had he not vividly remembered the scythe the aforementioned spirit wielded being poised above little Mami to strike her down.)

Vongola Decimo himself had gotten rid of the spirit, and since then, he'd maintained interest in the Shimon.

Borderline disturbing interest.

Enma dug through the other folders until he happened upon a _handwritten_ letter from the _Decimo_ himself.

Enma stared at the letter as if it was going to eat him. Apt, considering that no letter from Enrico di Vongola was ever tame.

Enma gathered his courage and scanned the contents of the letter; phrases like 'union', 'destined soulmates', 'descendants of a tragic love story' and 'fate' jumped at him.

Enma rubbed the bridge of his nose and had to rescan the letter.

Ten minutes later, after rereading the letter and scrutinizing it many times, he discerned that it was actually legitimate, and no one had accidentally switched the actual letter with one of the Decimo's fanfics.

(It had happened before. Many times. Enma regretted each and every one of them.)

Enma sighed, sagging into his chair; it was always tiring to deal with Enrico's special brand of insanity. And now he had to go give Vongola Primo's descendant a tour of Shimon Island because that same descendant would be Vongola's appointed relations manager from now on.

Dragging his hand through his hair, he looked through the folders for any clue about the Vongola descendant's identity until he found it in a paper carelessly slipped under the money transfer documents.

He grabbed the paper and read it. The name stood out quite clearly to him.

He stared.

The office door banged open, Julie rushing through it while carrying a chair, "Who is-?!" Julie halted, dropping the chairs, "Why are you screaming?"

Enma's mouth snapped shut, silencing the shrill screams he didn't know he was letting out.

"I'm dead. I'm going to die." Enma returned to staring at the paper in his hands, he couldn't believe his eyes, "Please tell me Enrico doesn't know _oh god._ "

There, on the paper, was the name Sawada Tsunayoshi.

.

"I had no idea." Was the first thing Tsuna said to him when they met up for the scheduled trip to the Island.

Enma waved him off, "It's okay. It's not the worst thing Enrico ever did to me."

Enma was a filthy liar; it totally was the worst thing Enrico ever did to him.

 _Enrico set him up to give his crush a tour of his home island after sending him a letter phrased to make it look like he and his crush were soulmates and Enma wanted to_ _ **murder**_ _Enrico._

Tsuna sent him a look, "Okay, I'll bite. Enrico is bad enough I can believe that. Did he mention anything about destined soulmates because of our ancestors', and I quote, 'tragic love story'?"

Enma failed to suppress the full body flinch _and_ blush at the question.

Tsuna patted him on the shoulder, "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

"Never mind that." Enma shook his head, "How did he get you to work on something like this? I'd have thought the Vongola would give more care and be more watchful of their founder's descendant."

"I had an agreement with Enrico after I became fifteen. I work at the civilian companies owned by the Vongola, and he takes me out of being in-line to inherit." Tsuna looked to the horizon, eyes distant as if recalling particularly traumatizing memories, "The things I did for him to convince Xanxus not to declare me the Dodicesimo heir." Tsuna shuddered, "Never again am I working in handling negotiations with other famiglie. It wasn't the dress or heels that were the horrific parts, but the way people eyed me."

Enma put a comforting arm around Tsuna, "There, there. Things will get better from here on out, I promise."

Tsuna blinked at him, "I still don't get it. I mean, I just smiled at them and they turned weird."

Enma's arm tightened around Tsuna; _smiled? Tsuna smiled at them? What? Just what? Those lucky bastards._

 _What were their names? Enma needed to destroy the competition._

Enma forcefully halted his train of thoughts? Competition? He just had a crush on Tsuna, he wasn't serious about pursuing Tsuna in a romantic sense or anything. There was no need to get jealous.

Enma was a filthy, filthy liar, he realized as his shoulders drooped, eliciting a worried look from Tsuna.

"Oh, I'm okay, don't worry. Now where were we before we started talking about the Vongola?"

"The tour around the island."

"Yeah. The tour. So, Shimon Island."

"Hey, Enma? Did you grow up here?"

Enma led the way from the pier to the island, "Yeah. I lived here for eight years before we had to relocate. I don't know if you heard about the incident…"

"The attack?" Tsuna frowned, "Yeah, I heard. It was hard not to, the attacker disguised himself as my father, I heard it was planned to ruin the Vongola-Shimon relations."

Enma almost missed a step, but he recovered quickly enough, making sure not to let out any indication of his sudden surprise. It was a bit ironic; the one who came to kill Enma's family disguised himself as a man whose son went on to save Mami's life and, subsequently, Enma's family.

(A tiny, insignificant part of him wondered how differently things would have gone had the Vongola not been on the lookout for Deamon Spade. Enma squashed that thought a second later.)

.

"So, how was it?" Mami asked as she fiddled with her chopsticks.

Enma made an inquisitive sound as he slumped over the dinner table, tired.

"Your trip to the island, of course!" Mami poked him with a finger, "You said you were going with Tsuna."

Enma raised his head to stare at her, "Let me rephrase that, why are you asking?"

"You went to an island with your crush. More importantly, you just gave your crush a tour of your home island, your hometown, your _home_. _Enmaaaaa._ "

Enma let his head drop to the table with a thunk, " _Mamiiiiiiii, stop._ It wasn't like that. Besides, we were really busy. The island is big and we only had one day to cover it."

Mami blinked, "Wait, aren't you supposed to be just renovating the town and expanding it?"

"We _were_ supposed to do that. Except the Vongola are insisting on doing the whole island."

"Why?" Mami scrunched her nose in confusion.

Enma raised his head and spread his arms to the side in an 'I don't know' gesture, "Why does Enrico do anything? The official reason is that they want to help a close, allied group since Primo's time. They said that it's to rebuild the alliance and put it back into full strength. But Enrico definitely has his own personal agenda. Enrico always does. I swear to god, if he's planning all this so that he can crash at our island to read fanfiction in peace, I'll poison his chocolate."

(Somewhere in Vongola HQ, Enrico sneezed.)

Mami poked at her food, "Huh."

Enma squinted at her, "You're being chipper today. And more talkative. Is there something?"

Mami blinked at him, "Oh, Yuni visited." She smiled.

"Oh?" Enma scooted his chair close to her, "Tell me more."

She poked him in the side again but obliged.

.

"Hey, nii-chan," Mami poked her head into Enma's office.

Enma dropped the papers in his hands and almost jumped out of his chair, "Mami? What is it? Did something happen?"

Mami shook her head, "No, it's just…" She trailed off, seemingly second-guessing herself.

Enma hated it, how down she'd been since the surgery last week, she'd been getting better, thankfully, but Enma wanted her to get better faster.

"Yes?" Enma gently prompted.

"Your lunch break is in a few minutes, so I thought." She pulled a bento from behind her, "We could spend it together?"

"Of course." Enma couldn't agree fast enough, and he was rewarded with Mami smiling in his direction in response.

The two ate their lunch in comfortable silence, Mami smiling, pleased, all the while.

.

The visits during lunch break continued for the next two weeks; Mami never failing to turn up and shyly ask to have lunch, and Enma always accepting, no matter how tired he'd been from work lately and greatly craving spending at least half the lunch period napping on his office couch.

The third week marked the time Mami broke the routine.

Enma waited for her, spending the half hour leading up to his lunch break in worry and wondering if he should call her to ask if everything was alright or if that would be too obsessive of him.

(Mami did, after all, have more than Enma in her life.)

His phone chimed with an incoming message and he scrambled to get it. Opening the message, he saw that it was from Tsuna.

 _[Sorry for hogging your sister for the day, but I had the kids over today for lunch and I couldn't not invite Mami.]_

Attached were a few pictures, showing Mami, Fuuta, Yuni, Fran, Lambo and I-Pin sitting around a table laden with food, chatting and laughing together.

Enma zeroed in on the picture showing Mami laughing with her head thrown back, Yuni to her right hiding a smile behind her hand, Fran on her left with his usual deadpan expression; opposite them was Lambo, leaning over the table and pointing his chopsticks at Fran, I-Pin and Fuuta were grabbing his arm, as if trying to get him to retract it.

Enma threw his head back and laughed hard. Oh, Tsuna was a miracle worker and Enma _loved_ him. Enma wished he could keep him by his side forever and ever.

Enma's laughter turned to coughs, as he bent forward slightly, coughing to dislodge whatever it was that somehow got stuck in his throat.

Grabbing a tissue, he used it to cover his mouth as he coughed. After the coughing subsided, his throat feeling cleared from whatever it was that got lodged in, he lowered his hand to look at the tissue, wondering just what the hell-

His eyes zeroed in on a petal.

And his world almost tilted side-ways.

He stared at the petal in shock, almost uncomprehending.

Enma was snapped out of his haze when he heard footsteps approaching his office door. Crumpling the tissue in his fist, he shoved it into his pocket and smoothed his expression at just the right time for the door to open and admit Julie who gave him a look as he put his fists on his hips, "So, was it Tsuna again?"

Enma merely offered his still open phone to Julie instead of replying.

Julie took the phone and saw the picture, his expression softening the slightest bit, "Well, I'll be damned. I'm going to show the rest." Julie turned and rushed out of the office, shouting, "I have news!"

Enma went to sit at his couch, carefully positioning himself so that he was facing the door. He took the tissue out and smoothed it, taking in the petal and confirming that he wasn't hallucinating and that, yes, he just coughed out a petal.

There was only one explanation, he smiled bitterly. It wasn't a simple crush anymore.

By the time Julie remembered to return his phone (probably after showing every single employee the pictures, Enma was suddenly glad he put in Tsuna's contact info under the name 'Tsuna' and not anything incriminating), lunch break had been over for a couple of hours.

It was long enough for Enma to formulate a plan of action, so to speak.

Enma stared the pictures Tsuna had sent him and his resolve strengthened.

He was going to ask Tsuna out, as more than just friends.

.

Saying that in his head was one thing, actually doing it was another.

Tsuna smiled at Enma from the other side of the table and Enma smiled back tentatively.

He'd asked Tsuna out alright, he just chickened out of telling him he meant it to be as more than friends.

Tsuna's eyes narrowed and scrutinized him; Enma leaned back slightly in his chair; could Tsuna probably guess?

"Is there something wrong? Your lunch invitation came out of nowhere. Is this because of me hogging Mami during lunch break yesterday?"

Enma cleared his throat, "Yeah."

"Oh," Tsuna said, looking slightly and strangely down, "I didn't think you'd mind…"

Enma hurried to correct him, "No! No, that's not it! I." Enma clamped his mouth shut, what was he supposed to say? That he saw the picture and realized that he was fucking in love with Tsuna and wanted to court him?

Actually, that was a good idea and exactly what he wanted to say to Tsuna when he asked him but his courage failed him.

So, "I wanted to thank you." Way to go, genius. "You helped us out a great deal. Mami, my family, myself. I don't think I ever told you how much we- _I_ appreciate you being in our- _my_ life. I thank every single deity out there for you and Mami meeting. I'm absolutely grateful that you exist, and I want to just… show you how much you mean to me. You saved Mami's life, you saved _my_ life. I don't think I would have been the same had I lost Mami, and I owe all of that to you."

Tsuna shook his head in denial, "You're giving me too much credit-"

" _No, I'm not giving you_ _ **enough**_ _credit._ " Enma interrupted, leaning forward and staring Tsuna dead in the eyes with utmost seriousness.

That wasn't a proper confession, Enma inwardly berated himself, but at least it was a step forward.

Tsuna blushed (and god he was gorgeous, how could Enma survive this amazing creature?) and averted his eyes. He cleared his throat and, after much deliberation, returned Enma's gaze, "Mami means a lot to me and a lot of people. There was no way I could have let her go like that." Tsuna's eyelids lowered, his eyes sparked with an inner fire, almost glowing orange, and when he spoke, his voice was low and deep, there was a strange mix of blankness and ferocity on his face, "To be quite frank with you, had she not decided on her own, I would have dragged her myself to the surgery room and tried a more active approach."

Enma almost laughed.

I love you, he thought. "If you think that's going to make me back off, then you're wrong." He said.

Tsuna reverted to his previous embarrassment, "Don't mind me, then."

Enma smiled, "Hey, Tsuna, let's meet up more like this." His offer was loaded with underlying meanings that Tsuna most definitely didn't get.

But Tsuna smiled at him, "Yes, let's."

.

Their next time meeting together happened under the bridge with the stray cats.

Tsuna even brought Natsu with him, "I thought about visiting here again. I remember you said how you liked to come here from time to time to unwind, and I thought that with your work, you probably didn't have time to come here since last time." Tsuna hesitated, "Did you?"

Enma smiled as his hand settled one of his hands on the head of the cat sitting in his lap, "No, I didn't. I didn't expect you to remember this."

"How could I not? It was an important moment for me." Tsuna nudged him in the shoulder before offering him a pastry, "Here, I made them."

Instead of taking the pastry himself, Enma took a bite out of it while it was still in Tsuna's hand, and nearly moaned; he remembered the time Fuuta sent them Tsuna-made food and realized one important detail.

He leaned towards Tsuna, settling his head on Tsuna's shoulder. Tsuna was frozen in place.

"You know, I still didn't get to sign my soul over to you." Enma pouted, "Fuuta said that he had contracts for that sort of thing, but he didn't bring them when I told him to."

Tsuna let out a choked sound, "You _what?!_ Enma! Not you, too!"

"Why not?" Enma sniffed and then raised his head to take another bite of the pastry, this time he made sure to not suppress his appreciative moan, "You're cute, very good with my sister, very caring about your family _and_ an amazing cook. You're perfect. Why wouldn't I want to sign myself over to you?"

Tsuna squeaked, " _Enma! You can't just say things like that! It sounded like a proposal!_ "

Enma hummed, raised his head to take another bite but Tsuna pulled the pastry away from him, Enma pouted again and gave Tsuna the puppy eyes. Tsuna didn't budge, "What if it was a proposal?"

Tsuna's face reddened, "I- I don't know. Okay?" Tsuna then offered the pastry again.

Enma took another bite, "I have been blessed by you."

Tsuna shook his head, fond and exasperated and still red-cheeked, "You're just a slave for food, aren't you?"

"My, Tsuna." Enma leaned in close to Tsuna's face and whispered, "You know the saying about the shortest way to a man's heart being his stomach."

Enma was rewarded with Tsuna's blush intensifying.

(If Enma couldn't scrounge enough courage to confess outright, then he could throw every single obvious hint he could at Tsuna; Tsuna was bound to realize, eventually.)

"Hey, Tsuna?"

"Yes?" Tsuna replied, voice faint.

"I'm going to visit the island in a couple of days. And I was wondering if you'd like to come with me? If you're free, of cour-"

"I'd love to." Tsuna interrupted him, the red color fading from his face and looking grateful for the topic-change, "Is it for business? I know we covered the details that we needed the last time."

"Not for business, no." Enma turned his attention to Natsu who crawled into his lap, cuddling with the other cat, in effort to not look at Tsuna and blurt something that would make Tsuna uncomfortable again, "There are parts I'd like to show you that I didn't have the chance to last time because of work." Enma, unable to resist knowing how Tsuna would react, turned to look at him again, and subsequently was met with Tsuna's soft smile.

God, Enma was so gone for him.

"That sounds lovely."

The two spent the rest of their little picnic playing with the cats in amiable silence and sharing the food Tsuna brought.

Except this time, Tsuna smirked as he fed Enma, turning Enma into a blushing mess. Enma considered it yet another step forward.

(Tsuna's smirks were hella sexy, and Enma might die if Tsuna kept pointing them in his direction.)

.

Enma took in a deep breath, hoping that the air in Shimon Island would boost his energy and that the sight of his old home would give him courage and prevent him from freaking out over what he did today.

No dice.

God, he couldn't believe that he actually invited Tsuna to an out-of-the-way island where the two spent time alone as Enma shared his childhood memories with Tsuna. What was he thinking? Was he stupid? Suicidal?

(He was going to die, that was for sure. Mami, the traitor, had laughed at his plight when he told her the day before.)

Oh god, he told him everything. People weren't supposed to share their embarrassing childhood stories, their parents were.

Enma told Tsuna everything from how Mami always trounced him in hopscotch to his unfortunate nickname.

(At this point, he _wanted_ to die. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him.)

Tsuna nudged him, snapping him out of his thought's downward spiral into murky water.

"Ah, I was the same? When I was younger, I mean." Tsuna coughed, cheeks coloring slightly, "You said Mami always destroyed you in hopscotch when the two of you were kids? Well, I-Pin did the same to me when I was in middle school. She was five, Enma, _five_." Tsuna grimaced, "All things considered, I was actually _worse_ than you as a kid."

Enma made a disbelieving noise.

"I'm serious." Tsuna prodded the ground with his foot, avoiding Enma's eyes as he buried his face in his hands, "I would have preferred Loser Tsuna over Dame-Tsuna." Tsuna trudged towards the edge of the water and Enma swallowed thickly.

Oh great, not only did he over-share his past, but he also dragged Tsuna along. Oh great, why couldn't stop making Tsuna uncomfortable with getting into too much detail? It was the proposal conversation all over again.

Now, how to change the to- water splashed him in the face and blinked in shock. He noticed Tsuna knee-deep in the water, pants rolled up and shoes discarded a couple of feet in front of the water's edge; he was smiling mischievously at Enma.

"Come on, I'm over it. You don't have to beat yourself up about it." Tsuna bent himself forward to scoop more water into his hands and spray Enma again to wake him from his stupor, "Besides, we're here for fun, why don't we just relax and play a little?"

Enma's brain short-circuited and he squeaked, "O- _okay!_ " He cleared his throat and spoke again in a normal tone, doing his absolute best not to let himself blush, "Okay!" And he walked towards the water.

A while later, when the two thoroughly indulged in the urge to play with the water like little children, they dragged themselves to dry land and plopped down, heaving from the exertion and laughter and wearing face-splitting grins.

Enma rolled to his side to face Tsuna, taking in the red cheeks and rising chest, the soft smile and content expression, feeling his chest too tight around his rapidly beating heart, his head too light and his throat dry.

The sudden urge to lean over and kiss Tsuna was almost overwhelming.

Tsuna turned to look at him and Enma froze, not daring to move an inch. Tsuna scrutinized him for what felt like ages. He must have reached a conclusion of sorts, as his eyes widened slightly and his breath quickened.

Enma wondered, terrified, about what Tsuna appeared to have realized.

Did he guess? Enma tried to smile in hopes of distracting Tsuna, but he knew it wasn't any good; he could feel it stretching awkwardly across his face, barely able to fill the curved space left behind by his wide, happy grin from earlier. Tsuna propped himself up on an elbow and reached out a hand to Enma's cheek. Enma's breath hitched in response to the hand in contact with his skin.

Tsuna blinked and rose to his feet, shattering the tension of the moment.

"C'mon, you're wet, we should dry you up."

Enma let out a breathless chuckle and rose to his feet, "You too, you know. I think you need a change of clothes, while we're at it." Enma shrugged, suddenly remembering why Tsuna needed the change of clothes in the first place; Enma had gleefully carried him earlier and threw him into the water.

Enma inwardly cursed himself for such stupidity, suddenly glad that Tsuna's wasn't wearing form-fitting clothes or else Enma may have needed to drown himself.

(Heck, Enma was already feeling like drowning himself just from mental images alone.)

Tsuna stiffened. Enma blinked.

"I, uh, I didn't bring a change of clothes?" Tsuna slowly turned to face Enma, embarrassed.

"Oh, don't worry. I always keep some clothes on the boat."

Tsuna blinked at him, face tilting down, and eyes staring at him from underneath his eyelashes, "Oh? Thank you, Enma."

Enma then realized what he just offered to Tsuna, and his face glowed red.

(Was it too late to drown himself?)

"Shall we?"

Enma didn't trust his voice, so he merely nodded in response.

.

There was something heart-destroying about seeing the man he was in love with wearing his own clothes.

Enma subtly gulped as he side-eyed Tsuna, dressed in a t-shirt that was too wide in the shoulders' area, which caused it to almost slip down one shoulder at more than one occasion. Each and every time, Tsuna would absentmindedly pull it back up as if it was something normal.

And it was definitely as such, from Tsuna's perspective. But from Enma's? He probably couldn't think of anything more sinful at the moment.

(And then there were Tsuna's collar bones. Which. Enma had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep his mind from dive-bombing into the gutter.)

Breathe. _Breathe._ Enma tried to center himself for the umpteenth time since he saw Tsuna wearing his clothes. He was absolutely thankful that he was accompanying Tsuna back to his place before he returned to his own home for the day.

Enma felt like they couldn't reach Tsuna's house fast enough, and when they finally did. He breathed a sigh of relief.

Tsuna turned to face him and smiled, "Thanks for today, Enma." Then Tsuna did what Enma didn't expect; he grabbed the front of Enma's shirt and tugged him forward, rising to his tiptoes, Tsuna leaned in close and pressed his lips to Enma's cheek. Retreating to the inside of his house, Tsuna sent a devastating smile Enma's way, "See you tomorrow."

Tongue-tied, Enma merely nodded.

Tsuna closed the door and Enma stumbled away.

Holly shit.

He was so, _so_ screwed.

.

"Alright." Julie put his hands on his hips, "You're going to tell me exactly what happened yesterday. Mami was cackling; I need to know all the juicy details."

Enma ignored him, preferring to nurse his coffee (which had cooled down considerably since the start of his lunch break half an hour ago). There was no way he'd tell Julie; he was their resident Gossiper and was bound to fly out of the office to tell everyone and their mother about 'all the juicy details'.

There was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Enma called out, wondering who would come at lunch break and need to knock first before returning to his cold coffee.

"Enma, hey." Tsuna greeted Enma with a smile as he entered the office, carrying a couple of bags.

Enma choked on his coffee, hurriedly putting the coffee cup on the table in front of him before reaching for tissues.

Quickly dabbing at the stray droplets of coffee, he pressed his hand against his mouth to stifle his coughs.

"I didn't think I'd startle you." Tsuna tilted his head, "I did tell you yesterday that I'd see you today."

"And you must be Tsuna." Julie flopped down on the couch opposite of the one Enma was sitting on.

"Yes. And you're Julie?"

"In the flesh." Julie grinned, "So, mind telling me what brings you here at this time?"

"Oh!" Tsuna brightened, and gestured to the bags he brought with him, "I brought Enma's clothes."

"Oho?" Julie's grin widened and gained a sly edge, "And why would you need to bring Enma his clothes?"

Tsuna smiled, "We were fooling around yesterday and-" Enma choked, "-I needed a change of clothes. Enma gave me some of his."

Julie smothered a snicker.

"And as thanks, I made some food for him." Tsuna's smile stretched into a subtle smirk sent Enma's way. Enma inhaled sharply and then began coughing again.

Tsuna patted him on the back until his coughing fit subsided.

Julie wore an expression of pure glee, and he appeared to be vibrating in place, clearly eager to go spread the news.

"I'll see you later, 'kay, Enma?" Tsuna leaned down and kissed Enma on the cheek, "Enjoy your food." Tsuna practically purred in his ear. Enma's face flared a bright red.

Done with thoroughly flustering Enma, Tsuna left the office.

Enma put his face in his hands, listening Julie's cackles, "Oh my god! That was glorious! I had no idea you had it in you to go that far already!"

Enma stubbornly refused to respond, Julie took the opportunity to rush out as well to spread the 'good news'.

When he was sure that Julie wouldn't be returning any time soon, Enma rose and rounded his desk, plopping himself down on the chair and pulling a tissue from the tissue box on the desk.

He coughed into the tissue, petals tumbling from between his lips into it. Crumbling it, he threw it into the trash and dropped his face into his hands again. He sighed and raised his head enough to stare at the bags Tsuna brought.

Tsuna _knew_ what Enma was doing by asking him out, and had decided to retaliate. He knew that Enma was weak for his food and so clearly decided to use it. He also came to the office on purpose. He'd probably wanted to question Enma but Julie's presence prevented it.

Enma needed to clear up the situation with Tsuna, needed to talk to Tsuna about whether or not he was comfortable with continuing as the two had been doing lately.

Tomorrow. He'd ask to meet tomorrow.

.

When Enma returned home, Mami was giving an intense look.

"What?" Enma asked, even though he knew exactly what was up.

(He'd weighed the pros and cons of letting Julie go and 'spread the word' vs. stopping Julie and highly probably exposing the fact that he had Hanahaki to the biggest gossiper in the whole world. Letting Julie go won out; Enma couldn't afford to let anyone know about his Hanahaki.)

"You know 'what'."

Enma sighed, "Yeah. I do. Alright, what do you want to do then?"

"I'm worried." Mami tilted her head to the side, "Are you sure this is a good time to start courting Tsuna?"

"Is this because he had Hanahaki?"

"Yes."

Enma blinked in surprise; he expected her to sniff and tell him that she didn't want him anywhere close to Tsuna because she didn't trust her 'pervert brother' with 'precious Tsuna' (and he'd agree with her wholeheartedly), he didn't expect Tsuna's Hanahaki to factor into it.

"Why?"

"I don't want you feel like you're his rebound."

Enma gaped.

"What?" Mami asked, looking embarrassed, "I worry! I don't want you to feel like Tsuna's using you like that! Because Tsuna is not the type of person who'd do that and you like him a lot. I don't want you to think of the situation like that!"

"It's okay." Enma patted her on the head, "I know that. I'm the one who asked him out in the first place."

Mami was silent for a moment, "Does he know that you asked him out in _that_ way?"

"Yes, or at least I think so."

"Are you going to clear it up with him?"

"Yes. Tomorrow, I'll ask him to meet up with me."

Mami stared at him for a few minutes before she turned around and headed to her room.

Enma sighed and headed into his own room; he had a long day to prepare for.

.

Enma sat on one of the benches in the park, hunched forward and fiddling with his fingers as he waited for Tsuna.

"Hey." Enma snapped his head up and saw Tsuna sit next to him, "You know, when you send someone a message that says 'can we meet? There's something we need to talk about', it usually sends alarm bells ringing." Tsuna said dryly, putting his hands on the bench, one of them was in-between Enma and Tsuna, "Alarming bells of the 'are we going to break up?' kind."

Enma flinched, "Yeah, that was my fault. I had no idea what else to say."

"It's okay. We haven't even acknowledged the fact that we started dating yet, and yet here we are, about to have our first 'we need to talk' moment."

Tsuna stared at the ground and talked with a subdued tone, "Was it too much? What I did the last couple of days? I knew I should have asked before I kissed you or at least talked with you before I said what I did yesterday."

"No! It's okay!" Enma impulsively grabbed Tsuna's hand with his own, "I didn't mind. I was just surprised." Enma bit his lower lip, "I should have been honest about my intentions from the beginning."

Tsuna intertwined their fingers; Enma stared at the linked hands in shock.

"I…" Enma swallowed thickly, "I don't want you to think that I did it because you had Hanahaki. Mami thought I might feel like a rebound." Tsuna stiffened, " _I don't,_ " Enma said firmly, "I wasn't going to try and pursue you in a romantic way at first. I tried to maintain my conviction. But then you sent me those photos of Mami. And I thought… I thought to myself that there was no way I was going to let you slip from my fingers."

Enma tightened his hold on Tsuna's hands and met Tsuna's eyes with his own without wavering, "I am genuinely interested in dating you, in courting you, in hopefully one day we'd be more." _I love you,_ "I like you a lot, Tsuna."

Tsuna chuckled wetly, Enma was alarmed at the sight of the tears in his eyes, "I'm interested, too." Tsuna pulled himself flush against Enma, wrapping his arms around Enma's broad shoulders, "I'll take care of you. Please take care of me, as well."

Enma inhaled, breath hitching and wrapping his arms around Tsuna in turn, "Always."

.

.

.

 _(One year later)_

Enma sighed contentedly as he pressed his face into the fabric of Tsuna's t-shirt (technically Enma's t-shirt, but Tsuna was the one wearing it and that was what mattered at the moment). He loved moments like these: when the two of them didn't have work and took the chance to lazily cuddle on the sofa, simply basking in each other's presence.

Tsuna's hands curled into Enma's hair, "Hey, Enma," He said, voice soft and contemplative.

Enma hummed in response.

"I was talking with Mami yesterday. About the past. She said something strange."

Enma furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, what strange things could his sister have possibly said?

"She said that, whenever she thought about it, she didn't know why you decided to pursue me so quickly while in what she considered a delicate period." Tsuna inhaled, Enma feeling Tsuna's chest rise and fall under his head with the air, "I must admit that I'm curious."

Enma burrowed his face in deeper, arms tightening around Tsuna, "What was it that you said once before? About being selfish and a coward? Your words resonated with me."

Tsuna stiffened, "Enma… you had Hanahaki?" He asked with disbelief.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I? Really, Tsuna, I think I was very transparent when we first met; how could I have possibly resisted you?"

"That's not-! What I wanted to know was-! I. I had no idea."

"No one else did either. I made sure no one would know about it."

Enma felt Tsuna's arms wrap around him, "Maybe I should have guessed. You did mention it, when you came to visit me after my surgery."

There was a lull in the conversation.

Then Tsuna spoke again, "Did it… did it get better?"

"Remember our sixth month anniversary." Enma smirked at the memory. He could feel Tsuna blushing.

"Yessss."

"My Hanahaki seemed to miraculously start to fade afterwards."

Tsuna huffed a breath of laughter.

Enma raised his head and stared Tsuna in the eye, "I love you."

Tsuna smiled softly.

"I love you, too."

.

End.

 _K._


End file.
